>Firstly, Happy Mothers Day to my lovely mum who gave me a love of food – she endured the many burnt offerings I produced in my Home Economics classes in school and didn’t murder me when I broke one of her precious Pyrex dishes. Mum, you’re a legend & I salute you!!! Unfortunately Mum has Type 2 diabetes, so rarely gets to sample my sweet treats although she does have a weakness for Pear Gingerbread on the sly…
Last autumn, when we were on holidays in France, I bought a gorgeous Macaron kit which came with a recipe book, a piping bag & nozzles. I soon discovered that the bag was less than useless, but the macaron recipe was superb – I was initially put off by the 15 steps required, but after a dreadful experience with a supposedly foolproof recipe, I gave it a go. The results were outstandingly gorgeous and very delicious too. I used food colouring pastes to get the lurid orange & green colours (it was my first time using them and I can confirm that less is more!!!). I also used some of my Boyajian citrus oils for the orange macarons & the oil did alter the consistency so I’d recommend using an extract instead. I also use Two Chicks Egg Whites for macarons & meringues as you need so much egg white and unless you’ve a recipe lined up to use the yolks, they tend to get thrown away, which is a criminal waste… the egg white carton is far more economical. This makes about 60 macaron shells

Mint Chocolate, Chocolate Orange & Vanilla Macarons
Mothers Day Macarons
120g Egg Whites (about 4 egg whites)
120g Ground Almonds
220g Icing Sugar
40g Caster Sugar
Food colouring/flavouring of your choice
Preheat your oven to 150c/Gas Mark 2
Put the ground almonds & icing sugar into a blender & whizz to a very fine powder (you might think that it’s not necessary, given that both ingredients are so powdery, but the difference it makes is phenomenal)
Sieve the almond/sugar powder onto a large baking sheet & bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes until just starting to colour. Remove from the oven & allow to cool.
Beat your egg whites until very stiff & then add the caster sugar, beating until the mixture is stiff again.
Now add your colourings & flavourings and continue beating (the mixture will loosen up a bit when you put in the paste or liquid) until stiff.
Time to add the cooled almond/sugar mix. You need to fold it into the meringue using a spatula so you don’t beat all of the air out of the meringue & end up with flat biscuits… When the almond & sugar have been completely incorporated into the meringue, transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a round nozzle. Line two large baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
Pipe evenly-sized small round blobs onto the paper, allowing about a 2cm gap between each, as they will expand a little. Give the baking sheets a bit of a slap onto a hard surface to “settle” them & to lose the little tip made by the piping nozzle and leave them to stand for 20 minutes before baking for 10-12 minutes.
You know they’re cooked when you see the
little frilly “collar” on the base
Remove from the oven & let them cool on the tray for 10 minutes before peeling off & transferring to cooling racks. If the macarons stick, just transfer the whole sheet to a rack & try again in 10 minutes.
Once cooled, sandwich with your filling of choice – seedless jam, Nutella, ganache or whipped cream all work really well – and eat. They are really irrestible so probably won’t last too long, although they will keep for up to a week in an airtight container (wishful thinking…)